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The Supercopa is constructed by the very same engineers at SEAT Sport who have nurtured SEAT’s WTCC title-winning race cars There is a range of colours – including Nevada White, Emoción Red and Speed Blue, shown in our image. There is a choice of either 2.0 TSI 211 PS petrol or 2.0 TDI CR 170 PS turbodiesel engine.

Veyron Top Gear race faked?

Two notorious hypercars – of which only one, it would seem, is a thoroughbred.

Ron Dennis does not suffer fools gladly.

The boss of McLaren cars carved his reputation in the uncompromising world of F1, where he rose from a simple mechanic to become one of the most astute (and abrasive) team managers the sport has ever seen.

Since retiring from McLaren’s F1 racing activities, Dennis has applied himself to ensure the company’s second roadcar offering – the MP4-12C – is as good as its first, the incomparable F1 hypercar.

The MP4-12C simply has to best the Ferrari 458, Lamborghini Gallardo and Noble M600 dynamically to be considered a success by Dennis.

Jenson Button led the Brawn GP team to victory in the season-opening Australian Grand Prix today, achieving his second Grand Prix win and capping a stunning debut race weekend for the British-based team. Team-mate Rubens Barrichello brought his BGP 001 car home in second position to achieve the first one-two finish for a new team since Mercedes-Benz in 1954.

CAR:What is your racing background, and how did you get started?Graeme Nathan: I started racing at the age of six in motocross. I raced there for many years, moving up through the classes as I got older. I had a really big crash in 1992, which cost me my sponsor, since I was off the bike for quite some time while recover-ing from a broken back and neck vertebra. Because the speed bug would not go away, my dad and I bought an old Mini Cooper in 1994, which he drove that year and I drove the next. That was the start of my track- racing career, in the Historics series.

CAR:What championships have you won to date?GN: I have won quite a few motocross titlesand regional car championships as well as the 2001 Polo Cup title.CAR:Was it a gamble signing up with the Seat team, especially considering that the marque has never competed on local soil before?GN: Driving the Seat and signing for the team has been really exciting as it was a new venture. Because the car is based on a Golf 5 GTI, I was very keen to have a go as I

had previously raced the GTI in Class T. In addition to that there was a lot of overseas experience that we had access to.CAR:The Cupra has been fast since its début late last year. How much of the develop ment did you do locally and how is the Seat as a racecar?GN: The Seat’s début was so good that we had to get 120 kg of lead (ballast) into it to slow it down so the other cars in Class T stood a chance of winning. The car has been developed locally as the specs of the Seats overseas are completely different. Most of the work has been carried out at my workshop, with lots of input and effort from Dean Jeffery, Vic Maharaj and Rob Green Motorsport.CAR:How do you rate your chances of taking the overall and Class T titles this year, and who is your biggest rival?GN: We are leading Class T at the moment and rate our chances of taking the class title very well. But we’re under big pressure from last year’s champion Iain Pepper.CAR:There are quite a few rookies in the Production Car category. Who do you rate as a rising star?GN: The rookie of this year, for me, must be Gary van Heerden. He is competing in the toughest class in the country and is doing a great gob in his new Opel Astra OPC. CAR: With the biggest field of competitors, do you think that Class T is the future?GN: Class T is the only class to compete in, as the drivers are the best.

CAR:What’s been your most memorable on-track experience? GN: It would have to be my first national championship win. It was in Polo Cup back in 1998. It was even more special because it was in the rain and the field had some really big names (all former champions in various formulae) like Marthinus Briers, Iain Pepper, Basil Mann, Neil Stephens and Derrick Irving.

Winter WarmerThe temperature may have been cool, but the on-track action was hot at Kyalami’s July meeting.The first Class A race in the Production Car battle went to Etienne van der Linde in the privately entered BMW 330i. Marco da

Reproduced with permission from CAR Magazine. With thanks to Mr. John Bentley and Mr. Sudhir Matai For the full article please see CAR magazine September 2008 issue page 155 and 157.Visit www.cartoday.com or for subscriptions visit www.magsathome.co.za

SEAT scored a magnificent fourth place out of a total of 15 brands participating in the stringent service centre inspection carried out annually by the German automobile club ADAC. This result rates the Spanish company as one of the most highly qualified in the sector with respect to working efficiency and quality, as well as customer service throughout its extensive sales network.

The five SEAT service centres examined stood out for their excellence in all the sections tested by the ADAC members. The aim of the test was to focus on an in-depth evaluation of the entire process, from the moment the car arrived at the official service centre until it left the facilities completely repaired and ready to be driven away. Each vehicle under inspection arrived with exactly the same mechanical failures, at which moment each detail was scrutinised and the scores added up.

SEAT’s main premise in this initiative is to centre on achieving excellence in customer service. A pleasant, professional welcome, a dealership atmosphere able to convey sportiness, design and vitality, and extraordinary knowledge of all the vehicles are some of the aspects that SEAT is promoting in all of its dealerships.

Without a doubt, training programmes such as SEAT Excellence, which involves more than 123 two-day Excellence Workshops this year, allow SEAT to improve customer satisfaction levels and increase sales and profitability.

SEAT is among those leading the field when it comes to producing quick, slick cars capable of delivering that most rare of motoring commodities: the genuinely exciting, genuinely ‘greener’ driving experience.

With diesel now taking upwards of 40% of the new car market, the Spanish manufacturer’s selection of sporty TDI-engined models is at the forefront of the shift towards the black pumps.

The SEAT Sport team came to the fore this past Saturday, showing great promise as they managed to qualify Graeme Nathan in Pole Position and leave Kyalami with a victory in their first race weekend.

The two SEAT Leon Cupra’s of Graeme Nathan and Phillip Kekana were only finished 10 days before the race meeting and by all accounts should be undergoing an extensive development programme. Instead, they gave notice of their intention to dominate South African motorsport with an emphatic display of outright pace and reliability.

An electronic niggle hampered Phillip Kekana’s progress as he tried in vain to overcome an ESP gremlin which surfaced on race-day. Despite this, Phillip managed to keep his Leon Cupra both on the pace and on the track, despite a torrential rainstorm, reminiscent of a monsoon. Phillip never put a foot wrong, driving well within his limits in order to bring the car home in one piece.

It was Graeme Nathan who threw caution to the wind, leading the pack from pole position before being overtaken during the safety-car period. Graeme was compromised by the driver ahead of him who drove defensively, slowing him to the extent that a second driver managed to pass him, thus relegating him to third.

In race 2, Graeme led from flag-to-flag, winning the race and setting a new lap record in the process.

“We couldn’t have scripted a better start to our motorsport career with SEAT,” quipped an ecstatic Team Manager, Martin Steer. “Pole position, a race win and a lap record, all on debut. It doesn’t get better than that,” he enthused.

“SEAT’s debut at Kyalami on Saturday was both exciting and emotional for the brand. The win and new lap record achieved by Graeme Nathan in the Leon Cupra only confirmed what our customers already know – that SEAT’s sporty performance is second to none in its class. The day was a triumph for the brand and a public declaration of the competitive spirit of SEAT Sport in the motorsport arena. We look forward with keen anticipation to the 2008 motorsport season” said Carrin Merkel, SEAT Sales and Marketing Manager.

I have to wonder why we have had to wait so long for the CUPRA to arrive.

Surely we should have had it six months ago, it seems VW are intent on ensuring that the CUPRA does not take sales away from its upcoming GTI-R models or S3 both of which are pretty much the same thing with the S3 have a bit more go for a lot more money (188Kw for R336K). I have to feel that delaying this is going to cost them in sales overall.

And no matter how we feel about SEAT as a brand it still needs to offer something special to grow the brand. Many buyers out there looking for something special and yet reliable is going to look at alternatives to the GTI-R. That’s what I was looking for when I bought my SEAT I simply did not want to trade my golf4 for a golf5 and thus went to look at the LEON ( ending up with a TDI CUPRA is a different story)

VW set a trend with their performance models and have a superb motor in the 2.0FSI and 2.0TFSI. However they don’t exploit their advantage and I don’t understand this. Are they trying to create exclusivity by limiting the numbers that their cars are available in. As we have seen in the past GTI’s were being sold for R50K above book simply because they had one. And now with the CUPRA they seem to be holding back till the GTI-R gets its big debut and then the CUPRA can follow the main act even if it’s been ready for months.

Well here is the main concern I have with this.
Reading today’s news 24 and looking at the Mazda3 MPS they have piped VW to the post by launching a 191KW pocket rocket. This is surely going to be very attractive as an alternative to many in the market for something lively. Let’s face it the Mazda3 and LEON could be twins separated at birth in the looks department. With an advanced driving course thrown in that could easily be a deciding factor for many.

It all boils down to the CUPRA with its hot 177KW Motor being down 14Kw on a car that costs 10K less and comes not only with the performance brakes as standard but also with a advanced driving course.